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27th out of 386 books
—
1,412 voters
Alicia
After losing her entire family to the Nazis at age 13, Alicia Appleman-Jurman went on to save the lives of thousands of Jews, offering them her own courage and hope in a time of upheaval and tragedy. Not since The Diary of Anne Frank has a young voice so vividly expressed the capacity for humanity and heroism in the face of Nazi brutality.
Paperback, 433 pages
Published
December 1st 1989
by Bantam
(first published October 1st 1988)
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Apr 10, 2008
Karen
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those interested in the Holocaust and even some who aren't.
I loved this memoir. Alicia is a twelve-year-old Jewess living in Poland during the occupation of Germany, and her recollections of events surrounding the Holocaust are amazing. Just a child herself, she is reponsible for the rescue of dozens of people during this time because she has courage and conviction. I love this story most for its apparent coincidences of good fortune--which I believe are manifestations of Heavenly Father's loving care for His suffering children. Read this book!
Alicia Jurman's family lived and died in Poland during the Nazi occupation, but Alicia survived. She was thirteen when the occupation began and seventeen when she finally made it to Israel. For much of this time she lived in ravines at night and picked crops during the day, posing as a Ukrainian orphan. She met people along the way who helped her and who betrayed her. She also acted for others, helping Russian partisans (for which she got a medal) and after the war was over, finding food and hou...more
Mar 13, 2012
Brooklyn harvey
added it
This story was about the time of the Holocaust. The writer of this book, Alicia Appleman, went through many hardships while living during this time. Alicia was a Jew, and she was the only girl out of many other boys in her family. All of her brothers got sent away except for the youngest who later on died. There were many people who helped her, but Alicia is the main character. Alicia just tried her hardest everyday to stay alive. She experienced many hardships. The worst was probably just seein...more
1 like · like · see review
I loved this book. I had to read it for a geography unit in my reading class. At first, I was kind of scared off by the small text and the thickness of the book. But after reading no more than three chapters, my heart had been overwhelmed and taken in by such a memoir. Defiantly one of a kind. You can truly see the Alicia's feelings when she was the age. I feel bad for her though, having to move on, then relive all the old, bad memories to write such a book, or to travel from university to unive...more
I read this book last year and did a book review in my history class on it. This story like Anne Frank is based off of a true story of a young girl living through the Holocaust. Unlike Frank, Alicia was younger and not as fortunate to have the support of her family. Throughout most of the story Alicia traveled alone just trying to stay alive. Unlike many of the stories I previously read about the Holocaust, this story was about a girl still living in the open world and how difficult it was for h...more
Sep 11, 2011
Jaclyn Cotton
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who wants to learn about strength and perseverance in the face of incredible adversity
Mrs. Jurman shows incredible strength, determination and perseverance to be able to witness the horrors that she did and still somehow find her will to live. And even after all the atrocities that she witnessed Mrs. Jurman remained a very kind heart woman. I met her during my first year of high school through a Jewish leadership program. I felt drawn to her from that first moment I heard her speak. Afterwards, her and I did keep in touch and talk on the phone periodically until I graduated from...more
What a fantastic autobiography from Alicia Appleman-Jurman. Alicia bravely shares her story of her childhood in Poland as a persecuted Jew during the Holocaust who becomes a strong and brave survivor. Alicia narrowly escapes death on multiple occasions, which truly makes me believe that she has a purpose on this earth: to share her story with children and adults around the world. No, this is not an Anne Frank-pace book, this is a thrilling account of survival, as well as the ups and downs of lif...more
Alicia, a memoir of a young Holocaust survivor from Poland, arrived into my hands via the Divine and the Half Price Books history clearance shelf. A $.25 paperback, it appears unread. Drawn inexplicably to the book last night, I opened the cover to discover a personal inscription from the author dated February 1, 1991, almost 20 years ago today.
"To dear ______, a tragic page in history was written for my generation, G-d willing you will write your page with happiness, love, Shalom, and a celebra...more
"To dear ______, a tragic page in history was written for my generation, G-d willing you will write your page with happiness, love, Shalom, and a celebra...more
Dec 16, 2008
Lynell Powers
added it
Referencing Alica as a survivor of the Holocaust is to do her a huge disservice. Her diligence, determination and love for others is of the highest ethics, nearly beyond compare. It is impossible for me to put into words the admiration and respect she has many times highly earned in her long ordeal of a nightmare where most would just perish. During, at the close of and after WW11 she rose above even her own need to survive by making huge personal sacrifices very close to the point of her death...more
I first read this when I was 9 or 10 because my mom read it for a book club and told me about it and I wanted to read it, so I read all 400 pages and I LOVED IT. I've probably read it 4 more times since then. It's a true story so that makes it even better. What this girl lived through during World War II is amazing, and it really touched me, and all of her heroic deeds are inspiring. One of my favorites of all time.
I've read a number of Holocaust stories, but none from the perspective of someone in eastern Europe who lived through atrocities outside of the concentration camps. Alicia's story is unforgettable, as is Alicia herself--her courage and kindness at such a young age. My copy has a handwritten note from Alicia (not to me, but to a student)and a phone number to contact her to speak at no charge to any group.
Few people know the truth about the Holocaust, but Alicia experienced it. As Polish Jews, her family suffered greatly. She watched as her family was slowly picked off by the soldiers and then by starvation. She managed to escape with her life time and time again by using a combination of great fortune and her knowledge. She and her mother survived by her continued ability to work in fields for small meals and shelter. Unfortunately her ailing mother finally fell at the hands of a Nazi officer an...more
What an astounding memoir. Even though The Hiding Place and The Diary of Anne Frank are of course amazing accounts of the war and concentration camps, this book gave me much more of a feel for what the war was like and the devastation and atrocities that took place. Alicia's account greatly differs from the other books by telling what happened to Jews that weren't taken into concentration camps. We hear so many stories about the camps (and rightly so), but I have to admit it never occurred to me...more
I have been reading this for school, and I believe everyone should read this book or one similar to it. 12 is a little young, I believe, for me to read this book, and I think 15 would be a better age. This story is full of great morals and also some bad ones. Brave, sweet, amazing Alicia survives a manslaughter. She is an example of a wonderful person who endures and survives. Everyone can learn some great lessons from this story, however I recommend not reading it before bed and getting somebod...more
This deep, powerful story of a young Holocaust survivor who helped others flee from Poland and survive the war that raged long and hard. This true story brought me to tears as I seemed to live through the life of one of these hated people of the time and went through the cruel daily life. This thirteen year old girl knew what her purpose was, and it uplifted me to the point that I wanted to be a better person in my daily living. Being in sixth grade, I was surprised I could handle the graphic pa...more
What a moving book. I have read a number of Holocaust books but this is the first book I read, that described the events and horrors in Poland. The fight to live and the sacrifice of her mother were profound. It is a great history lesson with many life lessons as well. It made me appreciate my country, family and freedoms.
This was such a good book. I have read many WWII books. I have such respect for Jews who lived through that time in history. Well, this book was a great one. I can't believe the things that Alicia has done with her life. Wow! She could put most people to shame with what she was able to accomplish by the age of 15. There were for sure times that I couldn't believe the things I was reading, but I think that is part of the reason I feel like I simply must read books like this one. I want to know wh...more
though thick and unflowery, once I got going, I LOVED reading this book--though the war and treatment was infuriatingly awful, Alicia's strength of character overpowers the negative. For a WWII book, I couldn't believe how much I had never known--Poland's beautiful countryside, Polish people's struggle with Russia AND Nazis AND own police--that there was ANY resistance movement BY Jews--and many other details of how things moved over there. Also amazing how tragic the war ending was for the Jews...more
This is a beautiful but haunting memoir. It is heart-breaking and graphic. It is hard to imagine a young girl going through such things--she saw the very worst of humanity, and yet she remained hopeful that there were still good people. She was very intelligent, strong, and brave. The last paragraph sums it up well: "Through the story of Alicia I wish to reach out, not only to survivors like myself, but to all people. I hope that it will strengthen today's youth by imparting a better understandi...more
An AMAZING story of survival and bravery and something I think all of us and our children should read. Alicia's determination to survive despite everything she went through is a trait I believe many of us have lost or never had to discover. When we are tempted to think our lives are hard or that we cannot fight our way through struggles and heartache, her true story reminds us that perhaps we do not have it as bad as we think and that we might all learn a lesson about perseverance, bravery and l...more
This book is about Alicia and what she went through during the holocaust. The germans had killed her whole family the only person that she had was her mom so she did everything she could to keep her mom alive. The germans had captured her three times and all those times she escaped. she even escaped going to a concentration camp by jumping out of th trains window. She escaped being killed by german dogs inprison by passing out the germans thought she was dead so they trew her in a pill of dead b...more
Unbelievable. Thank goodness for Granny and her knowledge of good books. This story is of a Jewish young woman that survives the Nazis in Poland. Not kidding, I was riveted. Then I was able to call Blaine and tell him thanks for serving in WWII and for the sacrifices he made. He had a French girlfriend during WWII, but it was still a sacrifice, right? Ben's other grandpa and my grandpa all took stories to their grave. I think it was very brave for Alicia to write this story, not omitting any inf...more
In the late 1980's Alicia came to a book signing in Marysville and then a visit to St. Isidore's School to talk to the children. Many of the mothers visited the presentation as Alicia spoke and told her story to the children. She held us on the edge of our chairs as she introduced each "character" to her family tale. At one point when she "introduced" her older brother, the children in the audience turned to the front door of the parish hall waiting for this character to walk into the building....more
What is reading but to be brought closer to greatness and God? And truly this book accomplishes this. Our heroine Alicia deserves accolades beyond compare. Not because she helped Jews escape Poland, or because she survived herself despite starvation and the murder of her entire family. What makes her someone we should emulate is her kindness to others despite how she herself was treated. When it all comes down, the way we treat others shows our strength and character and our willingness to serve...more
This was an incredibly powerful memoir. I have read numerous holocaust memoirs and this one is one of the best. It is powerfully written, impossible to put down. Alicia is an amazing heroine, leader, daughter, wife, mother. She represents so much of what we need to "never forget" and proved over and over again that she had incredible strength in the face of the most incredible evil. Her strength of character, family and her values are outstanding in every way and viewing this chapter in history...more
Great nonfiction of the Holocaust--but with a difference from most other holocaust memoirs. Alicia actually never was sent to the death camps. She manages to hide, escape detection, even join resistance groups and survive with help of many nonJews. However, the Holocaust makes its mark on her since almost everyone she knows and loves DOESN'T survive. Her story after the war ends, as a consequence, is marked by continuing danger and some pretty unpleasant incidents as she works smuggling Jews int...more
One of the best holocaust memoirs I have read yet. Alicia tells her story of narrow escapes, loss and living in constant terror under the Nazi regime. Alicia takes the reader on a journey from a little shtetl in Eastern Poland, now Ukraine, to Eretz Israel where she finally gained her freedom. Just 9 when the war began, Alicia found the courage to take care of herself and others in her small community. Anyone interested in WW2 and stories about the holocaust should add this to their list.
This was one of my favorite books growing up. I first read it some where near 6th grade and would go back to it many times after. Since then I have read it maybe eight times! The bravery of this mujer taught my young forming mind so much. So much about speaking out against injustices, standing up and making things happen as women and then about survival. I feel blessed to have crossed paths with Ms. Alicia via this book and will continue to go back to it many times in the future.
This woman is the ultimate survivor, is now one of my heroes and has a remarkable story that I'm so glad she had the courage to tell.
This is an autobiography about a Jewish, teenage girl, Alicia, in Poland during WWII. There are tons of stories out there about concentration camps and stories of hiding, like Anne Franks' Diary, but this one was a different perspective of the ghetto and surviving off the land as well as what trying to get back into life was like for the few survivors.
The book is...more
This is an autobiography about a Jewish, teenage girl, Alicia, in Poland during WWII. There are tons of stories out there about concentration camps and stories of hiding, like Anne Franks' Diary, but this one was a different perspective of the ghetto and surviving off the land as well as what trying to get back into life was like for the few survivors.
The book is...more
Nov 09, 2008
Chris
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
all
Recommended to Chris by:
Book Club
Shelves:
book-club-08-09
I wasn’t sure if I was that excited about reading this book because I knew it was about the Nazis and concentration camps and the terrible things that happened to the Jewish people. This book, however, was much more than I expected. It was a very well done true story of a woman of great strength who lived in Poland at the start of World War II and the difficulties she endured and overcame. This woman’s mother told her to live so that through her story she could bring to light the story of many w...more
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Mar 12, 2013 08:05pm